The Disease Perspective

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
of Mental Disorders, Third Edition, Revised (American Psychiatric Association, 1987, pg. 371), for research purposes, described Sadistic Personality Disorder as a pervasive pattern of cruel, demeaning, and aggressive behavior, beginning by early adulthood, as indicated by the repeated occurrence of at least four of the following:

has used physical cruelty or violence for the purpose of establishing dominance in a relationship (not merely to achieve some noninterpersonal goal, such as striking someone in order to rob him or her);

humiliates or demeans people in the presence of others;

has treated or disciplined someone under his or her control unusually harshly, e.g., a child, student, prisoner, or patient;

is amused by, or takes pleasure in, the psychological or physical suffering of others (including animals);

has lied for the purpose of harming or inflicting pain on others (not merely to achieve some other goal);

gets other people to do what he or she wants by frightening them (through intimidation or even terror);

restricts the autonomy of people with whom he or she has a close relationship, e.g., will not let spouse leave the house unaccompanied or permit teen-age daughter to attend social functions;

is fascinated by violence, weapons, martial arts, injury, or torture.

The behavior has not been directed toward only one person (e.g., spouse, one child) and has not been solely for the purpose of sexual arousal (as in Sexual Sadism).

The Dimensional Perspective

Here is a hypothetical profile, in terms of the five-factor model of personality, for Sadistic Personality Disorder (speculatively constructed from McCrae, 1994, pg. 306):

Excessive talking, leading to inappropriate self-disclosure and social friction; inability to spend time alone; attention seeking and overly dramatic expression of emotions; reckless excitement seeking; inappropriate attempts to dominate and control others.

High Openness

Preoccupation with fantasy and daydreaming; lack of practicality; eccentric thinking (e.g., belief in ghosts, reincarnation, UFOs); diffuse identity and changing goals: for example, joining religious cult; susceptibility to nightmares and states of altered consciousness; social rebelliousness and nonconformity that can interfere with social or vocational advancement.

Low Agreeableness

Cynicism and paranoid thinking; inability to trust even friends or family; quarrelsomeness; too ready to pick fights; exploitive and manipulative; lying; rude and inconsiderate manner alienates friends, limits social support; lack of respect for social conventions can lead to troubles with the law; inflated and grandiose sense of self; arrogance.

High Conscientiousness

Overachievement: workaholic absorption in job or cause to the exclusion of family, social, and personal interests; compulsiveness, including excessive cleanliness, tidiness, and attention to detail; rigid self-discipline and an inability to set tasks aside and relax; lack of spontaneity; overscrupulousness in moral behavior.

Character Weaknesses and Vices*

* Derived from Michael Stone's (pg. 23) list of the "personality traits" of DSM-III-R Sadistic Personality Disorder. Descriptors marked with an asterisk, he says, are not true personality traits.

The Behavior Perspective

Motivations

Wants to gain power and control over the self and over outside objects (Gordon, 70).

A driving need to dominate (Oldham, 346).

Wants to have an impact on others (Baumeister, 242).

Wants to gain validation of his own being, his importance, and his power by hurting and dominating others (244).

Behaviors

Associated Disorders

Depression (Sutton, xii).

The Life Story Perspective

Childhood

Authoritarian parenting.

Cognitive Effects

Basic Belief: I need power over others. Strategy: Dominance.

The "idealized self is made up of beliefs about how we should feel, think, or act" (Tamney, pg. 32).

John M. Oldham has defined the Aggressive Personality Style in The New Personality Self-Portrait. I have rephrased many of his ideas in terms of extreme, rigid, and imperative beliefs and attitudes. According to my view, the beliefs and attitudes rationalize and reinforce the idealized image and the compulsive attachments and aversions. They are analogous to Karen Horney's "shoulds" and "neurotic claims." These are the typical beliefs that I associate with Sadistic Personality Disorder:

I must dominate (Oldham, 346).

I must dominate in relationships, in the home, in all the groups to which I belong, and at work (346).

I must be in control (346).

I must be in charge (346).

I must direct all activities (346).

I must shape the environment.

Power is the most important thing in life.

I hate everything which is not in myself (Mailer, 164).

The interests and feelings of others cannot be allowed to interfere with the accomplishment of my goals (Oldham, 347).

I should always be the one to give the orders and establish the rules (347).

Everyone who is under me should always do things my way (348).

I have to be a strict disciplinarian (348).

I know the best for everyone 348).

If people under me don't do things my way, they are being disloyal.

I'm used to being chief and I can't tolerate any challenges to my authority (348).

If anyone challenges my authority, I must punish them for their disloyalty and reassert my control (349).

Parents should train their children to be tough, courageous, and ambitious (349).

I expect my children to obey me without question (351).

I am totally dedicated to my work and I won't be deterred by family life or needs for health and recreation (352).

I require an intensely competitive, dog-eat-dog environment in which there can be only one winner (352).

You can't be squeamish; you have to be ready to sacrifice others to accomplish your goals (352).

The end is always more important than the means (347).

Work (indeed, all of life) is strategic combat, a struggle to get and to keep power (353).

It's always the objective that counts; whatever means are expedient are justified (353).

I'm less concerned with following the "right" or "honorable" course as with finding a practical, efficient, effective solution (354).

I should be the one to create structure and organization, and plan strategy, because I'm the only one who can see the big picture (354).

I focus on results, not feelings (355).

I must function at high stimulation levels at all times, otherwise I get bored and don't know what to do with myself (355).